As personal electronic devices become increasingly sophisticated, people are using such devices in new and interesting ways. For example, personal or portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, tablets, portable media players, and e-book readers, can be used to “augment reality.” That is, an electronic device can be used as a viewfinder into the real world and virtual elements can be overlaid to create a reality that is enhanced or augmented. For example, an electronic device can be used to obtain a view of an object or location, and a computer-assisted contextual layer can be displayed on top of the view to provide information about the object or location. Conventional systems and techniques, however, may not offer a dynamic or engaging user experience. Other conventional approaches may provide interfaces that are less than optimal for users. As an example, considerable network bandwidth may be used in the presentation of overlaid virtual elements in conventional systems. As another example, conventional interfaces may limit rendering of virtual elements to a small portion of a display or limit rendering to certain types of elements (e.g., text or primitive shapes).